Planning a Meet - A Guideline for Organizers
10-08-2006, 05:24 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Planning a Meet - A Guideline for Organizers
The Gathering at Gettysburg was a very successful meet. I think everyone had a good time. It was a long time in the planning, and fortunately a lot of top notch people, the best of the Vintage community, worked very hard on this meet. Its success didn
10-08-2006, 05:49 PM
#2
I'm guilty of most of those things Rob. People get excited and start to think about attending and just don't think about how their acts may impact the event. I, for one, have said I would go to a meet and then failed to make reservations and then backed out of the event. I didn't even think about the fact that I had waited until the last day and the hotel had released the rooms to the public. So not only did I not go, but someone on the waiting list had to find room in a different hotel. It just hadn't occurred to me at the time.
10-08-2006, 05:57 PM
#3
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by Legal Bill,Oct 8 2006, 08:49 PM
I'm guilty of most of those things Rob. People get excited and start to think aobut attending and just don't think aobut how their acts may impact the event. I. for one, have said i would go to a meet and then failed to make reservations and then backed out of the event. I didn't even think aobut the fact that had waited until the last day and the hotle released the rooms to the public. So not only did I not go, but someone on the waiting list had to find room in a different hotel. It just hadn't occurred to me at the time.
I think each and everyone of us is guilty of at least some of the things I've mentioned. I am too. That's all in the past, and it doesn't really matter now.
My point in starting this thread is to present a guideline to follow so that our events can continue to be as good as they've been in the past, and perhaps get to be even better.
10-08-2006, 06:13 PM
#4
I guess I want to throw in my two cents about the initial planning of a meet. After putting three or four of these together now, we know a few things. First, there has to be a lead organizer. There are too many little details to try to do everything by committee. I know sometimes I have had to make two or three decisions in a day. If I had to get a committtee together for every one of them, I'd still be planning. I hope to see a whole bunch of people stepping up to organize or help organize events. The COs do not need to be the organizers. The more of you who do this, the more events we can have. We can have large events, we can have small events. I think these guidelines will help demystify the process.
Choosing the date and location should start with a discussion. Everyone in Vintage should have the opportunity to advocate a certain date or location. But once the discussion is substantially complete (in other words, we are hearing the same arguments for the second time) then the organizer makes the decision and the rest of us live with it, or choose not to go. Remember, the organizer has to do all the work. they have to be free to choose a date and time that they can work with and feel comfortable with. Sometimes it makes sense to pick the location and organizer together, but that ssumes you have an organizer for every possible location. That is usually not the case.
If you are not the organizer or a volunteer, you are still free to make suggestions. But understand that you are asking other people to do work. Please don't be insulted if your suggestion is not accepted.
If you don't like the date, location, or events it would be best to either not post about the event at all, or simply say "sorry, I can't go then...that is too far for me....I'm going to pass on this, but have a great time." There is nothing to stop you from saying that you think the event sucks, but the organizers would appreciate it if you did not.
Once you have a location and a date, you need to find a hotel that will hold us all and a restaurant that will take us all. The organizer can assign this to a willing volunteer, but in the end, it is the organizer's responsibility to make sure the arrangements are made correctly. Just so you know, we do not pre pay for the rooms. We get the hotels to hold them for us and give us a price and a deadline for reservations. After the deadline, they give the rooms to the public. If you ask the hotel to provide a function room and a banquet, you may have to pre-pay. We avoid that here in vintage and that is why we end up going to restaurants. We find one that is willing to give us a 40, 50, or 60 person reservation. Again, we do not usuallyhave to pay a deposit to reserve the room.
Rob, this was a great idea. I can't believe how much I just wrote about this. Past organizers really should share their thoughts about this as it will make it easy for anyone to be an organizer.
Choosing the date and location should start with a discussion. Everyone in Vintage should have the opportunity to advocate a certain date or location. But once the discussion is substantially complete (in other words, we are hearing the same arguments for the second time) then the organizer makes the decision and the rest of us live with it, or choose not to go. Remember, the organizer has to do all the work. they have to be free to choose a date and time that they can work with and feel comfortable with. Sometimes it makes sense to pick the location and organizer together, but that ssumes you have an organizer for every possible location. That is usually not the case.
If you are not the organizer or a volunteer, you are still free to make suggestions. But understand that you are asking other people to do work. Please don't be insulted if your suggestion is not accepted.
If you don't like the date, location, or events it would be best to either not post about the event at all, or simply say "sorry, I can't go then...that is too far for me....I'm going to pass on this, but have a great time." There is nothing to stop you from saying that you think the event sucks, but the organizers would appreciate it if you did not.
Once you have a location and a date, you need to find a hotel that will hold us all and a restaurant that will take us all. The organizer can assign this to a willing volunteer, but in the end, it is the organizer's responsibility to make sure the arrangements are made correctly. Just so you know, we do not pre pay for the rooms. We get the hotels to hold them for us and give us a price and a deadline for reservations. After the deadline, they give the rooms to the public. If you ask the hotel to provide a function room and a banquet, you may have to pre-pay. We avoid that here in vintage and that is why we end up going to restaurants. We find one that is willing to give us a 40, 50, or 60 person reservation. Again, we do not usuallyhave to pay a deposit to reserve the room.
Rob, this was a great idea. I can't believe how much I just wrote about this. Past organizers really should share their thoughts about this as it will make it easy for anyone to be an organizer.
10-08-2006, 06:52 PM
#5
The Drive
I've gotten the groups off twice now and each time learn a little more. The Gettysburg's "Start your engines" went a little smoother than the NorEaster. Why? I think we had more room to stage the groups on the side of the hotel and everyone was on time....... I do however think that it is important for the drive group leaders to meet together, have clear maps for distribution to their group, identified bathroom and lunch spots and maybe an itinerary of where we should be at a particular time. During the dry runs, ensure that 1) we can use the bathroom and 2) set up with the manager of the food establishment that x number of cars and y number of people are going to show up at z time...... I also think it important for the group leaders to meet with their respective drive groups, appoint a "last car / safty person", go over the route with the group, and lastly, spend a few minutes meeting the members of the group. During the drive, the speed limits (especially in town) should be observed; potholes, stop signs, on coming traffic - they do cross the yellow line at times, joggers, pedestrians etc should be announced on the 2-way radio; lastly, drive leaders or someone who knows the area should provide some history/comments/discussion about the area being driven through ---- and maybe 4+ hours is a bit long for a drive....
my $.02 ..... and what can I do for Spring Fling ?
I've gotten the groups off twice now and each time learn a little more. The Gettysburg's "Start your engines" went a little smoother than the NorEaster. Why? I think we had more room to stage the groups on the side of the hotel and everyone was on time....... I do however think that it is important for the drive group leaders to meet together, have clear maps for distribution to their group, identified bathroom and lunch spots and maybe an itinerary of where we should be at a particular time. During the dry runs, ensure that 1) we can use the bathroom and 2) set up with the manager of the food establishment that x number of cars and y number of people are going to show up at z time...... I also think it important for the group leaders to meet with their respective drive groups, appoint a "last car / safty person", go over the route with the group, and lastly, spend a few minutes meeting the members of the group. During the drive, the speed limits (especially in town) should be observed; potholes, stop signs, on coming traffic - they do cross the yellow line at times, joggers, pedestrians etc should be announced on the 2-way radio; lastly, drive leaders or someone who knows the area should provide some history/comments/discussion about the area being driven through ---- and maybe 4+ hours is a bit long for a drive....
my $.02 ..... and what can I do for Spring Fling ?
10-08-2006, 07:27 PM
#6
My two cents:
I agreed with much of what has been stated above. Especially, with Ken's comments regarding the drive planning and execution.
As many of you have seen or heard me state before: Unless one has been involved in planning an event such as our meets, one probably has no idea how much time and effort goes into pulling them off.
With that stated: I would like to thank everyone that helped plan and make "The Gathering - Gettysburg 2006 a successful, fun and safe weekend. Thank you all.
I wish all of you a nice life until we meet again.
Regards,
Matt
I agreed with much of what has been stated above. Especially, with Ken's comments regarding the drive planning and execution.
As many of you have seen or heard me state before: Unless one has been involved in planning an event such as our meets, one probably has no idea how much time and effort goes into pulling them off.
With that stated: I would like to thank everyone that helped plan and make "The Gathering - Gettysburg 2006 a successful, fun and safe weekend. Thank you all.
I wish all of you a nice life until we meet again.
Regards,
Matt
10-08-2006, 07:42 PM
#7
Actually, I think we could write an entire treatise on planning the drive.
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10-09-2006, 02:51 AM
#8
Great thread, Rob...I'll keep some of these things in mind for Spring Fling 07. Thanks for your offer to help out at the Fling, Ken. I've probably been guilty of trying to do too much by myself, but sometimes it's easier and faster to do that than to try to coordinate several people arranging things. Just my way of looking at it. I'm going to be focusing on the Fling in earnest now that Gettysburg is over. Look for more info in that thread. 
